Water for Kids

The Club is sponsoring the second cohort of Northumbria students to work on Water for Kids projects in Uganda in May - June 2017.

In 2015, the Club sponsored 3 students on Northumbria University’s environmental health degree to work on improved water supplies and sanitation in Iganga, a region of Uganda. The Club funded their travel and the Northumbria students, Ashleigh, Eimear and Alexandra, worked with the charity Water for Kids. In 2017 the Club has awarded a £5,000 travel grant meaning that seven undergraduate and postgraduate students will be going to Uganda to work on these environmental public health projects again.

The students’ efforts are important: they bring basic services to people that protect people from enteric disease. Anecdotally, when you hear stories where a Ugandan student tells his teacher that there is something wrong because they’ve had a solid bowel movement for the first time, and this is because of the improved water supply, then you know that this is something that needs action and the University, our Club, and Water for Kids are helping improve lives.

Aside from our support of rural Ugandan communities, these young undergraduates and postgraduate students gain a lot from the experience. They use their environmental health (MSc) and civil engineering (BSc/MEng) skills for real, working alongside local people to deliver life-saving infrastructure projects. These experiences will stay with the students forever and will be an interesting talking point when they come to look for jobs in the near future!